Week 6 - Claymores 17 Fire 7

WEEK 6 - CLAYMORES 17 FIRE 7
	Another Fire home game in Glasgow, another fan party with loads of Fire fans in Edinburgh's Cambridge Bar. Trust me - it makes sense!
	One sure fire way to avoid the flight chaos was to drive the "Claymobile" from Germany to Scotland. Once again Fire Brother Uwe triumphs with their magnificent creation!
	But sadly there were a few casualties of the flight chaos as many Fire fans found their flights canceled. The hardcore of course overcame this adversity. Ralph came in via Amsterdam when Ryan Air's alternative would force him to miss the party ...
	Christof, ignoring BA's less than tempting offer of a bus transfer from Heathrow to Edinburgh, drove to Amsterdam and hopped on an EasyJet flight from there! Our sympathies to those who could not find a way across!
	Christof's arrival meant a new batch of Scooter CD's delivered to the Scottish posse. Here Dom shows off the new one!
	"You want us to play that shite?" Ian and Mark seem less than thrilled with our insistence of playing German techno. So if they weren't going to play the Scooter CD, there was only one sure fire way to wipe the smiles off their faces ...
	CALL THE COPS! Yes it was us! We had to get the pigs over to enforce Scooter party rules! OK we lie. The fuzz got sent over because it was 11pm in a central Edinburgh bar and people were having a good time. Whatever happened to the catching of crooks?
	Police Evidence #1: This is what happens when you dance "Follow the Leader" and try to take pictures ... For much better Cambridge Bar pics please check out Claymores FTP Gregor's site Dario's site
	Police Evidence #2: Cheerleader of the (Last) Week and his Pom Poms. An arrest really should have been made in this case. No Poms Poms should have to put up with this kind of abuse ...
	Game Day Bus to Glasgow and the traditional sneakies! This got out of hand with the introduction of the "Double Sneakie" which involved, not surprisingly, two sneakies being snuck at the same time. Awesome!
	No Livingston stop this year ... But as promised here is a picture of Harthill services. It doesn't have the same magic about it. Funny that.

	The new cheerleader of the week - Mad Hatter!
	Who's the blonde in the marked down Super Bowl XXXVI leather jacket? None other than Andy C, back to claim his spot as everybody's favourite First Down columnist. We can only apologize for desecrating his sacred space last week ...
	There was another blonde on parade during the rainy Car Park Party. None other than Yvi - leader of the Pyromaniacs and Shuggie's favourite "No Chance"! Scott Wilson suggested to Preston that we get Shuggie on stage and get him to propose as last year's same fixture produced a successful marriage. But there was one problem - where was the clown???
	Having a laugh with NFL QB Steve Beuerlein!!! MAXIMUM CLOWN POINTS! The marriage will have to wait ...
	Also missing out on this day would be Fire QB Tee Martin, who came out for warm ups but decided the Hampden Rain wasn't to his liking and so he went for the sideline cap and jacket look for the game. Tee has struggled this year, and we were slightly disappointed that he was on the bench to be honest!
	Our worst fears were realized when back up Romaro Miller came out like a house on Fire, completing 14 of 17 first half passes for 159 yards and 1 TD. He gave the Fire a passing threat they've lacked most of this season.
	This was no more obvious than when Miller rainbowed a perfect 33 yard play action TD bomb to Saint allocate Onome Ojo. Here fellow Saint allocate Jimmy Robinson was obviously a bit miffed the pass didn't go to him and decided to attack poor Ojo in the end zone! FIRE 7-0
	Turns out scoring was the worst thing the Fire could have done. JJ Moses (seen here running back an earlier punt return) took the ensuing kickoff and raced 65 yards to the Fire 24 yard line. A facemask penalty on the play put the Claymores in great shape. Could they cash in?
	YES! Jason Byworth snagged a 12 yard strike from a scrambling Dreisbach to even the score. Jason got his first catch last week in Amsterdam and now has first TD. Well done #89! CLAYMORES 7-7
	Then the Glasgow rain got to work its magic as on the next Fire drive RB Jamal Robertson lost the ball without being touched and Willie Gary raced back to the 18 yard line with it. Last week after 5 carries, Robertson had over 140 yards and 2TD's - this week just 1 yard and 1 fumble!
	And we cashed in again! Dondre Gilliam makes another spectacular grab, reaching back one handed to pull in this Dreisbach pass from 16 yards! Our Offense scores 1 TD in 12 quarters and then hits paydirt twice in 2 minutes! CLAYMORES 14-7
	Scott wasn't always pretty on this day - but he got the job done when it counted and didn't turn it over. It took him almost 20 minutes to complete a pass, but completed passes #2 and #3 were worth the wait!
	Garbage has reminded us all season of Preston's prediction of the Fire going 2-8 or 3-7! But at least our prediction of being able to shut down the vaunted Fire running game held true (as long our Defense didn't have to play a 40 minute game). They got 22 yards rushing in each half. CLAYMORES 14-7 (HT)
	A 33 yard Scott to Scott (McCready) completion on our first drive of the 3rd Q set up this Rob Hart 24 yard FG to extend the lead. Congratulations to Rob for hitting his 200th straight extra point earlier in the day! CLAYMORES 17-7
	Yvi sheds a tear as she looks for Shuggie among the Claymores cheerleaders, but he is nowhere to be seen!
	Stevan's lobbying of the coach for a pass in his direction got him a completion for 3 yards and a 1st down in the 4th quarter. It kept alive another clock ticking drive ... Our D was magnificent again - holding Miller and the Fire back in the 2nd half.
	There would be no way back for the Fire in the end. Two 4th Q interceptions by Scott Shields and then Willie Gary (pictured) preserved the lead. More importantly the 10 point margin gave us the head to head tiebreaker over the Fire should we need it.
	Big Mac celebrates! .500 never felt so good! The O-line did a good job again, giving Whisper almost a hundred yards and surrendering only one sack. CLAYMORES 17-7 (FINAL) We
	Ray Woodward's D was masterful again - it still hasn't given up more than 17 points in a game this year. The Fire were averaging over 200 yards rushing a game - they got just 44. But he's always on the look out for fresh talent. Here he sizes up this young man in the post game suite - only to tell him he's too short to play football!
	Dom shows her appreciation to the Keeper of the Hounds - Coach Tomsula. Clarky meanwhile keeps an eye out for any unsportsmanlike conduct!
	Good job from the Front Office letting the Fire fans who were waiting for the bus back to Edinburgh to arrive in the pouring rain get some shelter (and beer).
	But there's always one who won't accept the beer! Ralph says "If it ain't Schlosser, I don't want it!"
	Just in case you missed the final score, Dario's impressive hard hat helpfully kept score throughout the game. Are you watching Roy???
	The news from Frankfurt was not good for Fire. The Galaxy were on their way to a victory over the Admirals and back to the top of the standings.
	Christof, the die hard Bronco fan, had refused Preston's earlier attempt to an introduction to the ex Bronco DL because he was a 'loser' in Super Bowl XXII. So naturally Preston told Ray this, and Ray then really wanted an introduction! No problem!
	Dondre is the man! 2 TD's in two weeks that have given us everything to play for down the stretch now. And yes, somebody has tied a balloon to Shuggie.
	But Offensive MVP on this day was Whisper. The Good Man chalked up a hard earned 95 yards on a clock absorbing 26 carries and helped keep the Fire offense on the sidelines in the 2nd half. Great job! And yes, that balloon is still tied to Shuggie.